When Living Is Only Not Dying : Immanence and Animals in Beauvoir’s Discussion of Oppression

Abstract

This article examines the intertwining of oppression, animality, and biological life in Simone de Beauvoir’s concept of immanence. Analyzing the roots of this discussion in G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophy and tracing its development from Pyrrhus and Cineas to The Second Sex, the author suggests that Beauvoir’s insight that oppression involves a deprivation of transcendence is of lasting value, whereas her concept of immanence remains problematic.